Tesla Motors is happy with its third quarter results, which show a ten-percent increase in revenue from last quarter's $28.4 million up to $31.2 million, improved gross margin to 30 percent (from 22 percent previously) and a net loss of $34.9 million compared to its second quarter figure of $38.5 million. While all this is an improvement from last quarter, the large net losses this year stem mostly from development costs associated with the upcoming Model S sedan, planned to launch in 2012. R&am

Tesla Motors is happy with its third quarter results, which boast a 10 percent increase in revenue from last quarter's $28.4 million to $31.2 million, an improved gross margin of 30 percent from 22 percent previously, and a net loss of $34.9 million compared to its second quarter figure of $38.5 million. While an improvement from just a quarter ago, the large net losses this year stem mostly from development costs associated with the upcoming Model S sedan, which is planned for launch in 2012. R

Visteon, the automotive supplier currently going through bankruptcy proceedings, is seeking to rid itself of pension obligations for 21,000 current workers and retirees. It wouldn't mean the end of pensions for the workers, but the payments would be taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and that would mean diminished benefits.

Realizing that one of its keys to survival is retaining existing owners, General Motors is proactively enticing nearly one million customers – those loyal to now-closed dealerships – with significant financial incentives. According to Automotive News, GM started sending 950,000 letters out last week to customers of stores which have shut down or lost a brand franchise. Included in the correspondence are $1,000 to $2,000 discounts towards purchasing vehicles from one of GM's four surv

Volkswagen labor union chief Bernd Osterloh has called out Porsche's CEO for holding up a merger between the two German automakers: "Together, one could do a whole lot of more things if [Wendelin] Wiedeking would end his ego trip." Osterloh believes Wiedeking is standing in the way of a tie-up with VW, and his repeated thrusts and parries are only making things difficult for both companies.

The Canadian Auto Workers union has ratified a new contract with General Motors that should help substantially reduce the automaker's operating costs in Canada. The template of the agreement is very similar to the one reached here in the U.S. between Ford and the UAW recently.

The Wall Street Journal puts forth the case that the government's $5 billion lifeline to GMAC has given GMAC a competitive advantage compared to its rivals. After the taxpayer cash was received, GMAC dropped the required credit score to get a loan and began offering 0% financing on several models, and rates from about 1% to 6% on a host of others. While doing so, it admitted that "without this [loan] . . . we would not be able to do this today."

GMAC, General Motors' finance arm, was granted bank holding status, but there is still no word on whether the bond buyback was successful. The deadline for GMAC to have converted enough of its bonds - said to be 75 percent - into $28 billion in liquidity was on Friday, December 26, at 11:59 p.m. In return for bondholders converting their bonds to those of lesser value, they would receive a higher dividend.

It's not getting any easier to be a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealer. Last month, when Chrysler Financial asked banks and investors to renew their $30 billion line of credit, they came up about $6 billion short. To make matters worse, the investors forced the automaker to follow much tighter financial guidelines (including a requirement to get out of leasing). Now, the cash shortfall is forcing the financial division to significantly turn up the heat on their retailers. Over the next few months, the f

No one knows yet what Cerberus is going to do with Chrysler. However, the possibilities probably include quite a few things that wouldn't be normally expected in the car business -- such as GMAC and Chrysler Financial working closely together.

General Motors reported its delayed fourth quarter earnings today and, lo and behold, managed to earn a net income of $950 million in the waning months of 2006. Compare that with last year's Q4 loss of $6.6 billion, and today's news is all the more incredible.

The "merger" at DaimlerChrysler never really came off as a good idea. We put "merger" in quotation marks because no one ever really bought it as a marriage of equals, but saw it for what it always was: Daimler-Benz taking over Chrysler. Whatever way you spin it, though, it was never a match made in heaven. Lagging sales from Chrysler Group brands are a drain on the parent company's bottom line, and the US lost one of its Big 3 independent domestic carmakers.

Most of the numbers for the month of June are in, and as you can see the red arrows outnumber the green ones yet again. Eighteen out of the 39 automakers below are reporting a rise in June sales over the same period last year. The 25.9% drop in sales by General Motors has attracted the most attention so far, but the General's performance, along with FoMoCo falling 6.9% and the Chrysler Group dropping 15%, can largely be attributed to the successful summer sales drive of 2005 that artificially in

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has posted its sales, unit production, and exports across various markets for the month of May. Worldwide production went up 4.2 percent compared to May 2005, buttressed by the European and North American (NA) segments. The latter, especially, experienced strong growth due to continued sales of the Eclipse coupe and the Eclipse Spyder convertible. Exports to NA rose 65.8 percent compared to last year. It was the European segment, though, with a 246-percent rise in sales c